Begun, Continued

Alan Howarth writes about British politics from a unique perspective. He sat on both the Conservative and Labour benches in the House of Commons, represented a rural seat in England and an industrial seat in Wales, served as a minister in Tory and Labour administrations, and has been a member of both Houses of Parliament.

Begun, Continued evokes a vanished world of hopes and fears in the 1950s and '60s before chronicling the fifty years of politics stretching from the vexed era of the 1970s to the turmoil of the Brexit years.

There is much to stimulate thought in this book as Howarth discusses issues with which he has been engaged during his political lifetime:

• The end of empire and new ideas of nationhood, the impact of immigration and Britain's endless quest for the right relationship with Europe.
• The advent of neoliberalism, its excesses, its divisive effects, the stagnation of productivity and living standards and embattled public services.
• Democracy's inability adequately to address the paramount issue of climate change.
• Disaffection from politics, experiments with constitutional change, anxieties about corruption and the difficulties of practising democratic politics in a postmodern culture.

He offers his reflections on the challenges for the future of western democracy with the rise of populism across Europe, even before the re-election of Donald Trump to the presidency of the USA.